Workaholics Season 1 & 2 [Blu-Ray]

Crude, sophomoric and outlandishly silly, Workaholics is, above all else, a pretty funny show. A brisk pace is propelled by the affability of its three leads and their knack for imbuing the increasingly wacky scenarios in which they find themselves with a genuinely enjoyable chemistry. Often TV comedies take a while to find their footing, but here all of the pieces are in place and firing on all cylinders out of the gate. The three roommates ― Anders (Anders Holm), Adam (Adam Devine) and Blake (Blake Anderson) ― habitually indulge in booze, drugs and comic misadventures while holding down jobs at a generic office where they ostensibly sell a wide variety of seemingly unrelated and altogether random products. Over two seasons, the trio bounce around from rescuing co-workers from the clutches of Juggalos to assigning themselves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle identities while trapped in the sewer, with little continuity from one episode to the next. The stories frequently hinge on asinine developments that remain grounded enough by the commitment of the actors to remain adequately believable and amusing. The supporting actors perform admirably, with fellow salesman Montez (Erik Walker) possessing one of those voices that has you laughing the moment you hear it, and the boss's assistant, Jillian (Jillian Bell), serving alternately as saviour and nuisance. The guest stars, while not of the highest profile, also manage to impress, led by the reliably hilarious Chris Parnell. It is impossible, however, to ignore the obvious debt the show owes to It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, as the personalities of the main characters are almost identical to those on that program. And though it would be easy to dismiss Workaholics as nothing more than a frat-boy variation on that formula, there are more than enough laughs wrung from the dick jokes and pop culture references on hand to still make for worthwhile viewing. The extras included are extensive, if not exactly revelatory. A peek into the writers' room for season two would seem to make for an illuminating glimpse of the process, but instead finds the group mostly humping things and cracking each other up with their juvenile hijinks. At least they do prove once and for all, however, that any audio commentary worth doing is worth doing drunk.